St. Augustine’s Theodicy by Augustine of Hippo
• Born: November 13, 354
• Died: August 28, 430
• Canonized:
• Feast Day: August 28
• Patron Saint of: brewers, printers, theologians

His theory is a development of the freewill defence.
i.e. Do not quote the free will defence as independent of the Augustine theodicy as they are based on the same belief in the true autonomy (independence) of human beings.
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He based his theory on key Biblical passages:
Genesis 1-3: the story of Adam and Eve and their ‘Fall’ in the Garden of Eden.
Romans 5: 12-20: St Paul describes the Christian belief that Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross wipes out the sin committed by Adam and Eve. Jesus’ self sacrifice has made available a boundless gift, the gift of righteousness.
He also based it on two assumptions:
1.
Evil is not from God – God’s creation was faultless and perfect
2.
Evil came from within the world.

Sin and death entered
The world through Adam
And Eve , and their disobedience.
This brought about ‘disharmony’ both in our human nature and in Creation.
Evil is not a substance – it is a deprivation.
Augustine’s theodicy in summary
We all share in the evil nature
Brought about by Adam and Eve, because we were ‘seminally’
Present in them. We therefore deserve to be punished.
God is perfect. The world he created reflected that perfection.
God is justified in not intervening, because the suffering is a consequence of human action.
Natural Evil is a consequence
Of the disharmony of nature brought about by the Fall.
Human action brought it about.

• It hinges on the idea that evil is a privation (depriving somebody of something).
He uses the analogy of blindness – blindness is not an ‘entity’, but an absence of sight. In other words the eye is perfectly good, the evil is the blindness.
• St. Augustine accounts for evil by ascribing it to human agency. Evil came about as a result of the misuse of free will.
1 All suffering is therefore a consequence of this abuse of free will.
2 Natural Evil is caused by the imbalance in nature brought about by the Fall.
3 Moral Evil is caused because the world has become estranged from God, and immorality has been able to thrive.
• However, God has not relinquished any responsibility for the world. If God were simply just, everyone would be suitable punished. Instead, God’s grace brought about the possibility of reconciliation through Jesus Christ, whose crucifixion saved a certain number from eternal punishment.
• It is often referred to as the soul-deciding theodicy as it is concerned with judgement.

• Soul-deciding
• Man in the likeness of God
• Man with true moral autonomy
• Freedom leads to the Fall
• Free will leads to suffering
• Man redeemed through Christ
• God foresaw the Fall
• Evil is part of an aesthetic pattern
• Evil is a privation

• Soul-deciding -
• God Like -
• Autonomy -
• Fall -
• Suffering -
• Christ -
• Foresaw -
• Pattern –
• Privation -
Concerned with judgement
Man in the likeness of God
Man with true moral autonomy
Freedom leads to the Fall
Free will leads to suffering
Man redeemed through Christ
God foresaw the Fall
Evil is part of an aesthetic pattern
Evil is a privation
Task: Come up with a song to remember the key features of the Augustian theodicy

• He was brought up in a Christian family, rather than converting as an adult, and this may help explain his strong sense of orthodoxy.
• Irenaeus is remembered as the second bishop of Lyons and as a martyr, although there is no evidence for how he died, presumably shortly after the turn of the third century.
• He was buried under the church of Saint John's in Lyons, which was later renamed St. Irenaeus. His tomb and his remains were destroyed in
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Don’t make the mistake of thinking Irenaeus and
Augustine lived at the same time. Irenaeus died 150 years before
Augustine was born.

• Unlike Augustine, Irenaeus believed God was partly responsible for the evil in the world. This was because he believed humans had been created in the
‘image’ of God (i.e. they had the ability to reason, knew morality, were intelligent), but were developing into God’s likeness (perfection.)
• He believed Evil was a necessary by-product of humanity’s spiritual journey

Humans were created in the image and likeness of God
We are in an immature moral state, though we have the potential for moral perfection.
Throughout our lives we change from being human animals to ‘children of God’. This is a choice made after struggle and experience, as we choose God rather than our baser instincts. There are no angels or external forces at work here.
God brings in suffering for the benefit of humanity.
From it we learn positive values, and about the world around us.

• Suffering and evil are:
1.
Useful as a means of knowledge.
Hunger leads to pain, and causes a desire to feed. Knowledge of pain prompts humans to seek to help others in pain.
2.
Character-building.
Evil offers the opportunity to grow morally.
If we were programmed to ‘do the right thing’ there would be no moral value to our actions. ‘We would never learn the art of goodness in a world designed as a complete paradise’ (Swinburne).
3.
A predictable environment.
The world runs to a series of natural laws. These laws come into conflict with our own perceived needs.
There is no moral dimension to this. However, we can be sure of things in a predictable world!
John Hick explains that for humans to ‘act naturally’ and make free choices God must remain at a epistemic (knowing) distance.

• Heaven and Hell are important within Irenaeus’s Theodicy as a part of the process of deification (to honour and adore something divine), the lifting up of humanity to the divine.
This process enables humans to achieve perfection.

• Soul-making
• Man created imperfectly
• Man with true moral autonomy
• Freedom gives potential for growth
• Free will leads to development
• Man redeemed through his own actions
• God remains at an epistemic distance
• Evil and suffering are necessary for growth
• Evil can lead to good

• Soul-making-
• Imperfect-
• Autonomy-
• Growth-
• Development-
• Actions-
• Epistemic-
• Suffering-
• Evil-
Concerned with development
Man created imperfectly
Man with true moral autonomy
Freedom gives potential for growth
Free will leads to development
Man redeemed through his own actions
God remains at an epistemic distance
Evil and suffering are necessary for growth
Evil can lead to good
Task: Come up with a poster to remember the key features of the Irenean theodicy

Augustian theodicy
•Soul-deciding (concerned with judgement)
•Man in the likeness of God
•Man with true moral autonomy
•Freedom leads to the Fall
•Free will leads to suffering
•Man redeemed through Christ
•God foresaw the Fall
•Evil is part of an aesthetic pattern
•Evil is a privation
Irenean Theodicy
•Soul-making (concerned with development)
•Man created imperfectly
•Man with true moral autonomy
•Freedom gives potential for growth
•Free will leads to development
•Man redeemed through his own actions
•God remains at an epistemic distance
•Evil and suffering are necessary for growth
•Evil can lead to good

Table of Strengths and Weaknesses for
Augustine & Irenaeus theodicies.